


Sergeant Snuggles

by flawedamythyst



Series: Sergeant Snuggles [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Couch Cuddles, Everyone Hugs A Lot, M/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-10 00:16:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6930259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst/pseuds/flawedamythyst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint, Tony and Steve help Bucky with his cuddling problem.</p><p>Based on several cracky conversations with Justlikeluna, who also very kindly betaed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sergeant Snuggles

It all started with Steve. Or, well, it started with Steve's mom, but Tony wasn't sure he could get away with blaming a woman who'd been dead for nearly a century.

Actually, he probably couldn't blame Steve either, although he was really, really wanted to, just because.

At any rate, it all started with Steve, and his mom's birthday. Tony had noticed that Steve had been kinda quiet all day but it wasn't until Bucky put a hand on Steve's shoulder and said, "She was a hell of a woman. She'd be proud of you," that he worked out why.

Steve let out a long breath. "I know," he said. "Just. Feels like we got way too little time together. Too few birthdays."

"Yeah," agreed Bucky, then pulled him around into a full hug. Tony bit his tongue to stop himself from throwing some kind of insanely jealous hissy fit. Damnit, if he'd just been a bit more pro-active, maybe he'd have got to hug Steve.

Steve let out an uncomfortable noise and pulled back from Bucky. "Sorry, just, your arm is digging in."

Bucky ducked a nod. "Right, yeah. Sorry," he said, staring down at his metal arm, and then clenching his hand into a fist. "Guess Hydra didn't really engineer it with hugs in mind."

Steve patted his shoulder and, damn it, why were those two always so touchy-feely? Tony was, like, seventy-five percent sure they'd never fucked, but you wouldn't know it to watch them sometimes. 

"Tell you what, let's go spar instead," said Steve, because Tony lived with a bunch of people who thought that a wrestling match was an acceptable substitute for a hug.

Bucky nodded and they headed out, leaving Tony with the mental image of them stripping off their shirts and then getting all sweaty as they wrestled on a mat together. Which, okay, from an aesthetic point of view was pretty nice, but he really wanted to insert himself in the picture.

Clint, who was collapsed on a sofa near-by fiddling with an arrow, let out a strange noise. He sprang to his feet and rushed off in the direction of his room. Tony watched him go and wondered if he'd been hit by the same mental images as Tony and wanted a bit of alone time so he could properly enjoy them.

For a moment, Tony considered going after him and seeing if he needed a hand, but he was meant to be avoiding sexually harassing his colleagues. Or something, he'd kinda stopped listening when Pepper started in on it, but it had been made very clear that he wasn't allowed to offer any of the guys a quickie unless he was dead sure they wouldn't get all weird about it after.

It was several hours later when Clint made his triumphant return, carrying what looked like a couple of pillows. The rest of the team were all just sitting down to dinner when he burst in, brandishing them.

"Bucky! I solved it!"

Bucky stared at him. "Solved what?"

"Your cuddling problem," said Clint. "Come here."

Bucky actually stood up and walked over to him, which was not what Tony would have done when faced with the crazed look in Clint's eye. Or maybe he would have, he didn't always make the best life choices.

"I don't have a cuddling problem," said Bucky.

Clint shook his head impatiently. "Don't bullshit me, I know you want to be all snuggly on movie nights and hugging anyone whenever they look down and all that shit. And now you can. Hold out your arm."

Bucky held out his arm. "I don't want to be _snuggly_ ," he started.

Steve cleared his throat. "You kinda do."

"It's cool, man," said Tony. "No shame, we're all there for your platonic cuddling needs." And any non-platonic cuddling needs he might have, especially if he brought along his super-soldier best bro, but Tony wasn't picky, it wasn't like Bucky wasn't damn hot all on his own.

"Or we would be, if it weren't for one thing," said Clint. "And I meant your other arm. The metal one that makes hugging you kinda uncomfortable."

Bucky glared, but obediently dropped one arm and raised the other. "It's not a big deal," he muttered, but even Tony could tell from his tone that it was.

"Well, maybe it is for us," said Clint, pulling Bucky's arm up so it struck straight out from his shoulder then bending to squint down the length of it. "I mean, I kinda like the idea of falling asleep on you during one of Natasha's terrible foreign films-"

"Fuck you, Barton," said Natasha.

Clint didn't even pause, "-but no one wants to sleep on bare metal, right? So, I made you this."

He held the pillows up and Tony realised that they'd been sewn together to form a tube. "I mean, it's just a prototype, but..." He pulled it over Bucky's arm like a sleeve. "Yeah. Like that."

Bucky stared at his arm, which now looked like it should be on the Michelin man.

"What's the flexibility like?" asked Clint.

Bucky gingerly swung his arm. "Fine at the shoulder, none at the elbow," he said. "Clint, this is-"

"Nope," said Clint. "No judging until it's been tested. Cap, come here."

Steve glanced at Tony with an amused look that kinda made Tony want to lick his face, but stood up and headed over. "Am I being your lab rat?"

"Yep," said Clint, pulling him around to stand in front of Bucky. "I figured you had the most experience. Right, Bucky. Hug him."

Bucky looked at Steve, who grinned and opened his arms.

"This is ridiculous," Bucky muttered, but stepped forward into them, wrapping his real arm around Steve's back and his pillow-cushioned one around his shoulders.

"Oh, that's much better," said Steve, dropping his head into Bucky's as he embraced him, and Tony Was. Not. Jealous. Nope.

"Just hold like that for a minute," said Clint, circling around Steve's back. "I just need to-" He leaned in close to examine the pillows, then carefully pressed at them. "How does it feel, Steve?"

Steve shrugged, apparently perfectly content to stay where he was for as long as this took. "Okay. I mean, it's kinda bulky, but it's pretty comfy. Better than before."

"Hmm," said Clint. "Bucky?"

"You mean, apart from the fact that I feel like a complete tool?" said Bucky.

Clint waved that away. "Not important, aesthetics comes later. How does it feel?"

"Uh," said Bucky, then he squinted and shifted his arm a few times. "I mean, it's probably a bit too large, and it's annoying that I can't really bend it, but it's fine apart from that."

Clint nodded seriously. "Okay, there must be some way I can fix that. Maybe I can put a joint in? And the size, I can take out some stuffing, just got to get the balance between too hard and too large right."

And, just, yes, Tony was always up for experimenting. He stood up and strode over. "Let me have a look." 

How the hell Clint thought it was a good idea to be engineering a prototype in Tony Stark's own damn tower and not involving him was insane. "We can figure this out, might need a different kind of padding," he said, gently prodding the cushion. "Something more concentrated, so you get the same softness but it takes up less space."

"You realise that you guys are nuts, right?" said Bruce.

"Here, Bucky," said Clint, ignoring him. "What's it like if you hug someone a lot smaller? Like Tony?"

Bucky let go of Steve and stepped back, turning to give Tony a careful look.

Tony sighed. "I'm not that small, you know," he muttered.

"You're on the wrong team if you want us to believe that," said Steve and then the bastard actually patted Tony on the head.

Tony glared at him, but was kept from responding by Bucky stepping in and wrapping his arms around him, making Tony squawk and flail as he tried to suck in some air. The padded arm felt like it was squeezing the life out of him for a moment, then Bucky eased up and suddenly- wow, okay, so this was kinda nice.

 _For science,_ Tony thought to himself and put his arms around Bucky's waist, settling in for a proper hug while Clint circled them.

"Yeah, definitely need some kind of joint," he said. "It's just how to do that without leaving people exposed to being attacked by your elbow."

"I'm with Bruce," said Natasha. "You guys are nuts."

Tony thought she was probably right, but he was already too busy thinking about the problem to care much, especially now he was getting a pretty epic super-soldier hug. They just needed to work out how to upgrade it from _pretty epic_ to _really fucking epic_.

****

That was just the start of it. By the time Clint and Tony had gone through four prototypes and seven minor design changes, they'd created a thing of beauty, a thing that Clint then insisted on dyeing black and painting a red star on.

"Got to match his aesthetic," he said, earnestly.

"Just because you're obsessed with only owning things that are one colour," said Tony.

"Shut up, purple is classic," said Clint. He held up the finished product and nodded to himself. "Okay, I think Operation: Cuddly Bucky is a success."

"We're not calling it that," said Bucky, taking the sleeve from him and examining it.

"Operation: Hug A Super Soldier?" suggested Tony. "The Snuggly Soldier?"

"The Bucky Embracer?" suggested Steve.

"Nope," said Bucky, pulling on the sleeve and flexing his arm carefully.

"Sergeant Snuggles," said Clint.

"Yes!" said Tony, pointing finger guns at him. "Nailed it."

Bucky let out a sigh but didn't protest. Instead, he stepped in close and engulfed Clint in a massive hug, wrapping him up in both his real arm and his Sergeant Snuggles-ified arm.

Clint made a surprised noise then clung on, relaxing into him. "Oh man, that does feel good," he said. "You have my permission to do that any time you want."

"You may end regretting that," said Tony, turning away to his workbench in a doomed attempt to stifle the envy.

"No way," said Clint. "It's fucking awesome." He let out a happily contented hum. Okay, well, at least he was getting something good out of all their hard work. Tony didn't need a hug anyway, he was-

Arms slid in around his waist and pulled him back against Steve's chest. "Thanks for helping out with this. I know Bucky appreciates it."

Oh man. If Tony had known it was this easy to get a hug out of Steve, he'd have built his assassin BFF all kinds of exciting arm attachments. And, wow, okay, there were some mental images that he need to properly explore later. He relaxed back against Steve and patted at his arms.

"No problem, building weird shit is my jam," he said.

"Hey," said Clint. "How about we have a movie night tonight, see if Sergeant Snuggles works for napping against as well as hugging?"

Bucky let out a long sigh. "We're not calling it that."

"Too late," said Steve, stepping away from Tony which, damnit, Tony wasn't ready yet. "Sorry, Buck, Sergeant Snuggles is definitely sticking."

Bucky made a face, but it was wiped off when Steve gave him a hug. Huh, apparently this whole thing had turned them all into a bunch of touchy-feely hippies.

Clint glanced away from Steve and Bucky's hug and over to Tony, raising an eyebrow in query.

"I'm good," said Tony. "All hugged up, no need of any more."

"Yeah, I'm calling bullshit," said Clint, and gave him a hug that was more manly back-patting than Steve's had been, but just as satisfying. Tony made sure to glare at him when he pulled back though, just to keep his rep up.

****

Everything got really surreal after that. Suddenly, everyone was engaging in physical affection all the time, or at least it felt like that to Tony. He'd kinda figured that once Bucky was set up with his shiny new huggable arm, he'd use it on Steve, and occasionally Clint, but Tony would be kept out of it. He wasn't Bucky's childhood BFF or shiny new partner-in-crime, after all.

But they all just kept hugging and touching and hair-ruffling and collapsing on each other after long days as if that was normal bro behaviour, and the weirdest thing was that Tony seemed to be part of it, pretty much without even trying. 

Clint was just as likely to sling an arm around Tony's shoulders when they were all heading out for some pointless publicity thing as he was to guide Bucky out with a hand to the small of his back. Steve always made sure there was place for Tony on the sofa for movie nights, even if it wasn't a lot of space squeezed between him and Bucky, and maybe it made more sense for Tony to just stretch out over their laps instead. And if Tony had a bad day, well, Bucky usually already had Sergeant Snuggles on before Tony made it out of the elevator into the penthouse and, wow, he was getting really good at those engulfing, comforting kinds of hugs.

Bruce and Natasha didn't join in with the snuggle fest. Natasha had always made it very clear just how far her personal space extended and how unwelcome anyone was inside it, and she clearly thought they were all nuts for wanting to squash on to one sofa when they could all have enough space to stretch out without kicking each other.

Bruce, on the other hand, was just surrounded by a general aura of awkward that didn't allow for much contact. Whenever Tony did clap a hand to his back or rest a hand on his shoulder to see over to an experiment, he got a gently confused look, as if Bruce wasn't sure what was happening and hadn't decided if he was interested in being part of it or not. Well, okay, that was an expression Tony was pretty familiar with.

He left Bruce to it and just bought a bigger sofa for the lounge, claiming the old one had been ruined by Clint spilling coffee on it one too many times. He pretended not to notice that the new one meant they could all fit much better as long as no one minded having to have the others pressed up really close against them.

He was on that sofa with a tablet, legs stretched out and tangled with Steve's, who was propped against the opposite arm, when Pepper came up one day. She was carrying a parcel and wearing a frown.

"Where the hell is Barnes?" she asked.

"At the range, with Clint," said Steve, glancing up from whatever he'd been sketching.

"What did he do?" asked Tony, and just got a glare, and the parcel thrown into his lap.

He glanced down to see the address just read:

_Sgt. Bucky Barnes_  
_Stark's Shiny Over-Sized Tower_  
_Park Ave_  
_New York_

He sniggered. "Well, okay, my tower is shiny and over-sized. If you know what I mean," he said and gave her a wink that just made her glare darken. "I guess I'm mainly just impressed it got here."

"The mailman told reception that he'd won a row at the depot over who got to deliver it," she gritted out. "Just tell him the proper damn address, would you?"

"Sure thing," he said, giving her a salute. "Or, we could just change the name of the tower so he was right all along?"

She made a frustrated noise and stalked back into the elevator, leaving Tony to shake the box and find it disappointingly devoid of clues as to what it might be.

"What the hell would Bucky be ordering?" asked Steve.

Tony shrugged. "I'd say weapons, but I've got his back on that one." A horrible thought occurred to him. "He wouldn't order weapons from anyone else, would he? C'mon, he must know that would break my heart and force me to throw him out of my shiny and over-sized tower, right?"

"He wouldn't," Steve said reassuringly. "None of us would betray you like that." Okay, so it was possible he was mocking Tony but as long as he was right, Tony didn't care.

The elevator dinged open again and Clint and Bucky came out, mid-way through some kind of argument that involved more than a little play-fighting.

"Barnes," called Tony, and held up the parcel. "You got something to say about my tower, maybe say it to my face?"

Bucky turned away from Clint and then grinned. "Couldn't remember what number it was," he said. "Guess I didn't need to. Seems the mailman agrees with me."

Tony threw the parcel at him as hard as he could, which wasn't anywhere hard enough to stop Bucky neatly catching it, damn these super-soldiers. "I'd make a comment about how my tower isn't the only thing over-sized about me, but I'm not sure your mind could take the mental images."

"Your ego's pretty large," agreed Clint, which hadn't been what Tony meant at all. "What's in it?"

Bucky turned the box over. "It's actually for you," he said. "As, uh, as a thank you for Serg- um. The pillow sleeve."

So close! They were going to get him calling it Sergeant Snuggles within a month, Tony was sure of it. So sure that he was tempted to raise his stake in the betting pool they'd set up.

Bucky handed the parcel to Clint, who just kinda stared at it for a moment. "Oh, man, you didn't hafta do that."

Bucky just shrugged awkwardly and avoided his eyes. "Figured you could maybe do with something to hug when I wasn't around."

That made Tony sit up straight, and Steve did the same at the opposite end of the sofa. "Where are you going?" he demanded.

Bucky glanced over and then rolled his eyes. "Nowhere, idiot, just meant when I'm out or sleeping or whatever."

Tony let himself relax but Steve stayed tense, staring at Bucky as if he could see into his mind. Tony reached out and patted comfortingly at his ankle. "It's okay, honey, he's not flying the nest just yet."

Clint was ignoring them all in favour of ripping the box open, sending showers of torn packaging all over the floor. "Oh, wow," he said, once he'd made it all the way in.

"I had to get it custom-made," said Bucky. "It's just about the only thing I've seen you try to cuddle that isn't really made for it, so-"

"-so you got me a cuddleable one," said Clint. He beamed and held up a plushie coffee pot so that Tony and Steve could see it. "It's fucking perfect, thanks, man."

"Okay, I'm actually kinda jealous," said Tony. "Coffee is the best."

"Totally," said Clint, giving his new toy a cuddle, and then beaming at Bucky. "Come here."

He pulled Bucky in and gave him a hug which Bucky awkwardly returned, one-armed, until Steve sighed. "Go get Sergeant Snuggles, Bucky. We'll put a movie on."

"It's not called that," said Bucky, but he was already heading off to his room.

Clint bounded over and hopped over the back of the couch, giving Steve and Tony barely enough time to move their legs before they got crushed by 160 lbs of archer. "Check it out," he said, holding his toy up. "I got myself some caffeine comfort that won't give me heart palpitations if I love it too much."

"You got a kids toy," Tony pointed out.

Clint gasped, putting a hand to his heart. "Don't talk like that about Squishy McSoft-Bean. You know that caffeine's not for children."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Please tell me you're not giving it a name."

"Ah, you're just jealous," said Clint, leaning sideways to ruffle Tony's hair, and then further sideways to just sort of rest against him, which...okay. Tony could live with that. "Don't act like you don't love plushies. We all know you've got a Captain America one in your closet."

Ah, crap, there was no way Clint was meant to know about that.

"You do?" asked Steve.

Tony put on his very best attempt at nonchalance. "It's from years ago, when I was a kid. I forgot it was there, I should really throw it out, better question: why the hell was Clint in my closet?"

Clint just rolled his eyes. "Duh. Secret agent spy guy, remember? I've been in everyone's closets."

"That kinda sounds promiscuous," said Bucky, coming back in with his sleeve on.

Clint tipped his head back to see him. "Sergeant Snuggles!" he exclaimed, which made Bucky sigh. "And, yeah, I've been in everyone's _closets_ as well, I can't deny that one. Not as many as Tony though, at a guess."

Tony snorted. "I don't remember ever being in the closet," he said. "Pretty sure the media don't either."

Bucky settled on the sofa between Clint and Steve and Clint moved so that he could rest against Sergeant Snuggles instead, tucking his feet into Tony's lap. Tony put a hand on his ankle and told himself that he was glad his crushing weight was gone, because now he could use his tablet during the film Steve asked JARVIS to put on.

By the end of the film, Clint was resting against Bucky with most of his lower body sprawled over Tony's. Bucky was, in turn, leaning back against Steve, who should have looked at least a bit squashed under the weight of two full-grown men but just looked happily nestled in the corner of the sofa with his arm resting over Bucky's chest.

Tony found himself watching the three of them almost as much as he did his tablet, and certainly more than he did the film. Well, three hot guys, all sprawled out and relaxed, who wouldn't keep an eye on them? In fact...

He casually held his tablet up as if looking closer at something on screen, and snapped a photo of them. Now that was one for his old age, when he was all withered and alone and living on past glories.

When he looked back, Steve was giving him a knowing look which Tony carefully ignored.

****

The thing about nightmares was, no matter how many you had or how much you told yourself they were just meaningless shadows of years-old memories, you still couldn't stop yourself waking up in a cold sweat, mind frozen with terror.

It was a good thing Tony had coping strategies for just this kind of thing. He leaned over and pulled open the door of his nightstand, pulled out the bottle of whiskey he kept there, and necked it.

Except, it turned out the damn thing was pretty much empty from the last time he'd dreamt of caves and waterboarding. He got less than half a mouthful.

He let out an irritated sound and dropped the bottle to the floor. Right, okay. Next.

"JARVIS, where's the nearest booze?" he asked.

There was the kind of pause that meant JARVIS strongly disapproved of Tony's life choices. "The bar in the lounge," he said. "May I suggest-"

"Nope," said Tony, pulling himself out of bed and stumbling to his feet. "Got a plan, don't need suggestions."

"Drinking until you pass out is not a particularly cohesive plan," said JARVIS. Tony ignored him in favour of heading for the bar.

There was a light on in the lounge, which he hadn't been expecting. Bucky was standing by the window, staring out at the view of New York. He glanced over his shoulder as Tony came in.

"You too, huh?" he said.

Tony slapped on a smile. "No idea what you mean," he said. "I'm just gonna-" He headed for the bar.

"Clint and I are having an insomnia party," said Bucky, and Tony realised he was wearing Sergeant Snuggles. Clearly, an insomnia party involved cuddles. Given the rest of Bucky's interactions with Clint, Tony was not surprised by that. "You joining us?"

"Nope," said Tony, opening the bar and pulling out a bottle. "Not got insomnia. I'll sleep like a baby once I've had some of this. Well, a lot of this."

"Aw, no," said Clint, coming in from the kitchen. He set down two mugs on the nearest surface and darted over to Tony, pulling the bottle from his hands. "Not the way to deal."

"It's a perfectly fine way to deal," said Tony, reaching out to take the bottle back. Clint took two steps back so he couldn't get at it, then turned and lobbed it gently to Bucky, who caught it and gave Tony a look of challenge.

"That's what my dad thought," said Clint and wow, okay, here be demons.

Tony turned back to the bar and reached for another bottle. "Mine too," he agreed. "Worked pretty well too, at least until he got murdered by the Fist of Hydra over there."

Clint pulled the second bottle out of his hand, put it back and slammed the door of the bar shut. "No picking on Bucky just cuz you're having a shit night."

Tony let out a long breath and looked over at Bucky, who'd hunched over his shoulders as if expecting to be hit, the hand not clutching the bottle clenched into a fist.

"It's fine," he gritted out, turning to set the bottle down so that Tony couldn't see his face. "I get it. Not exactly easy to live with the guy who murdered your folks."

He didn't sound like it was fine though, he sounded like he was going to go and curl up in a ball and cry himself to sleep. Tony winced. When he turned back to Clint, he found he was the recipient of a pretty epic glare. He gave him a little shrug and only got a fiercer glare and a meaningful eyebrow twitch.

Tony sighed. "Okay, I shouldn't have said that. My bad."

"You're staying and having cocoa with us," said Clint. "No alcohol."

"Oh, come on," said Tony. "Cocoa? Seriously? Not even coffee?"

Bucky cleared his throat. "Coffee's hardly going to help you sleep."

"Alcohol would," said Tony, sending the bar one last, lingering look. Clint took a pre-emptive step closer, as if to block it.

"Fine," Tony said, defeated. "Fine. Fucking cocoa it is."

"Well, you can fuck yours if you want," said Clint, turning back towards the kitchen. "I was just planning on drinking it. You two have those, I'll make myself another one."

Tony picked up one of the mugs and stared into it. He didn't think he'd had cocoa since he was a tiny kid, back when the first Jarvis was still around.

Bucky didn't come to pick his up and Tony glanced over to see him standing in place, giving Tony a wary look. Aw man, why did Tony end up feeling like the jerk when he was the one with the dead parents?

He picked up the mug and took it over to him, holding it out until Bucky reached out for it.

"So, do you guys do this a lot?" he asked.

Bucky shrugged. "Seems like no one in this Tower sleeps very well. Clint's out here a couple of times a week. Last night it was Steve." He took a sip of cocoa and made a face. "Don't tell Clint, but Steve's cocoa is better."

"Huh," said Tony. "I had no idea this place was so popular at night."

"Bruce makes camomile tea," said Bucky, in tones of deep disgust and wow, yeah, Tony felt that.

"Bruce has real issues," he said, and took a sip of cocoa. It wasn't whisky, but at least it wasn't camomile tea. "You sound like you're out here a lot."

Bucky gave an awkward shrug. "Most nights," he said, then looked back out the window. "I guess I don't need much sleep."

"Seriously?" said Tony. "You're going with the 'super-soldiers are too manly for insomnia' excuse? Please tell me no one actually buys that."

Bucky glared at him. "Fine, why aren't you asleep, then?"

Ah crap, Tony had walked straight into that one. Well, fuck it, he could front this out. "I had a nightmare about the time I was waterboarded," he said, glancing out the window at the view and trying to sound as casual as possible.

Bucky was silent next to him for a long pause, then let out a sigh. "Jesus," he muttered. "Okay, fine." He pulled Tony's cocoa away from him, ignoring his automatic noise of protest, set both their mugs down and then pulled Tony into a massive, engulfing hug.

Tony had been the recipient of enough of these from Bucky now to know that the best thing was just to hang on, enjoy it, and maybe give his back a bit of a rub because although Bucky tended to save them up for when he thought someone else needed the comfort, they all knew he was pretty much always desperate for a hug himself.

“I'm fine,” he told Bucky's shoulder. “I mean, it's shit, but it's not like I'm not used to it.”

For some reason that only made Bucky's arms squeeze tighter. “You should come find someone,” he said, his voice muffled by being pressed into Tony's neck. “Not just drink alone. None of us would mind you waking us up if you needed it.”

“Plus, most of the time someone's awake anyway,” said Clint's voice from behind Tony and then, yep, he had an archer hugging him from behind as well as a super-soldier clinging to his front. It was a good thing Tony wasn't claustrophobic. “Mostly Bucky.”

A few minutes passed, and Tony wondered if they were all just going to stay there until the cocoa went cold. He supposed he could move and make it clear he wanted them to let go, but...okay, so he didn't want them to let go. Being sandwiched between two of the three guys he kinda had crushes on was pretty much the best way this night could have gone for him without actual sex being involved.

Eventually, it was Bucky who moved first, pulling away and turning back to his cocoa. Clint relaxed his grip and gave Tony one last pat on the shoulder, and the moment was over.

“I dream about my victims,” said Bucky in a low voice, his back to the two of them in what was almost certainly a calculated move to hide his face.

“Hydra's victims,” corrected Clint, in a tone that meant he'd said that several times before.

Bucky gave a shrug than seemed to say _same difference_. “Sometimes that includes your parents,” he added.

Oh man, Tony really needed to watch his mouth. “Clint's right,” he said instead. “They're Hydra's victims.”

Damn Hydra. They really had fucked up all their lives irreparably, one way or another.

Bucky ducked a nod then turned around, putting Tony's mug back in his hand. Damn it, Tony had been hoping to just abandon that and not have to drink it. He sighed and took another mouthful.

There were loud footsteps from down the hall. Apparently, they weren't wrong about this place being like Grand Central Station at night. Steve came rushing around the corner, took one look at Bucky and strode over to him. Bucky blindly thrust his mug at Tony who took it just in time to prevent a spill as Steve wrapped Bucky up in his arms.

Okay, a Grand Central Station of hugging. Was that a thing? Tony glanced at Clint, who gave him a one-shouldered shrug, as if he wasn't surprised. To be honest, at this point Tony was more surprised he'd actually gone a whole minute without anyone hugging him.

“You fell,” he heard Steve choke into Bucky's shoulder in a muffled voice.

“I came back,” said Bucky. “I'm right here, Steve. It was just a dream.”

Steve let out a long, strangled breath and clutched harder at him.

Clint took Tony's elbow and pulled him away, over to a sofa that was far enough away for them to be able to pretend they weren't paying attention to Captain America's emotional meltdown. Tony set Bucky's mug down on the table, just in case Steve let go of him before it went cold and he still wanted it.

“I'm guessing you've seen this before,” he said to Clint, quietly.

Clint nodded. “Steve's nightmares have pretty much one focus,” he said. “Afterwards, he goes to find Bucky first thing.”

Tony nodded, thinking about the dreams he had about someone taking out his reactor, and how he always had to both touch and see it once he woke up, even though he knew it was there from the fact that he wasn't going into cardiac arrest. “I get that.”

“I keep a mirror by the bed,” Clint confessed. “So I can check my eyes aren't blue.”

Tony frowned at him. “Your eyes _are_ blue.”

“Not blue-blue,” said Clint. “Not, you know. Loki blue.”

“Ah, right,” said Tony. “Is that what brings you out here in the middle of the night, then?”

“Oh, I got a whole heap of stuff,” said Clint. “My subconscious is an imaginative fucker. I got Loki and all that shit, I've been tortured a couple of times too, occasionally it even dredges up my dad if it thinks I'm getting too complacent. Sometimes it just throws it all into a blender and adds in the death of everyone I love on top for flavouring.”

Tony reached out and patted his knee. “We're all so fucked up. It's a miracle we get anything done, let alone saving the world.”

“You sound like you're only just realising that,” said Clint, and then he pulled his legs up onto the sofa so that he could curl into Tony, leaning against him with a little sigh. Tony's arm moved to go around his shoulders without Tony even needing to think about it. Apparently he was being indoctrinated into this culture of non-stop cuddling.

Well, okay. He could live with that.

****

Two weeks later, there was a fight with Namor and some of his minions over- you know what, Tony really had no idea what had got Namor's tiny trunks all bunched up this time, only that he was pissed as hell.

The Avengers were pretty much on top of it though, at least up until Tony was slammed so hard that he ended up going into the harbour, which would have been fine if the suit hadn't been stabbed with a trident earlier, and if the hit hadn't also knocked out his flight systems. Water rushed in through the punctures while Tony tried desperately to get his repulsors to work, filling up the suit with freezing cold, filthy water as he sank down, swearing at JARVIS to just get something, anything working.

It was at his chin when the system finally rebooted and JARVIS shot them back out into the fresh air.

Tony ripped the helmet off as soon as he was on land, drawing in desperate lungfuls of air and telling himself that he wasn't having a panic attack, he wasn't, definitely not, it was just- just a bit of mild anxiety, that was all.

“Holy shit, man, are you okay?” asked Clint over the comms.

“Fine,” wheezed Tony, pushing away the pressing memories of angry voices shouting in Pashto. “Totally fine. You guys got this, right? Suit's fucked, I need to go and-” He didn't bother finishing the sentence. He just rammed his helmet back on and took off in the direction of the Tower.

He got out of the suit as quickly as he could, leaving it in the workshop for JARVIS to judge whether it could be repaired or not, then headed up to his room and turned on the shower to the hottest temperature he could bear.

The burning of the water gliding down his back started to pull him back until he felt like he had control, dislodging all the memories of the freezing cold of the cave and the pain of water filling up his lungs. He was fine, totally fine, it was all just residual anxiety, didn't mean anything.

When he got out, he wrapped himself in a robe and kicked his clothes in the direction of the trash. Nothing worth keeping now they'd been soaked through with filthy harbour water.

He stepped out of his bathroom and froze. Steve, Clint and Bucky were standing awkwardly about, cluttering the place up. They were all still in their battle gear, but Bucky seemed to have found time to grab Sergeant Snuggles, which meant-

Tony braced himself just in time for the hug, patting at his back and giving Steve and Clint what he hoped was an 'I'm fine, you worry too much' expression over his shoulder.

“I just wanted to wash the mud off,” he said.

“You were underwater for ages,” said Steve. “You didn't respond on the comms.”

Tony gave a shrug that was badly hampered by the super-soldier holding on to him. “The systems needed to reboot.”

Bucky let go and stepped back. “You should have a back-up earpiece or something. You shouldn't rely on one system to do everything.”

Tony nodded. “Okay, yeah, good idea.” Not that he'd have really been able to say much that would have reassured them, but it might have been nice to hear their voices. He thought about the failed phone call to Pepper as he'd flown into space. Yeah, okay, knowing he'd have a secondary way to make sure he had someone on the other end if he ever crashed out for real would actually be nice.

Clint stepped forward and thrust something into Tony's hands. “Figured you might need this.” Tony stared down at the plushie coffee pot.

“Uh, thanks,” he said. “Need it for what?”

Clint let out a long sigh. “For a cuddle, obviously.”

“Um,” said Tony, and then forcefully bit down on his tongue to stop himself saying, _I thought that's what you guys were for_. Don't make assumptions, Tony, maybe they had other things to do instead of coddling an emotionally needy billionaire.

“So, what? You're Sergeant Snuggles's sidekick now?” he said. “Does that mean you get a name as well?”

“He's Agent 'Aw No',” said Bucky, and wow, he really nailed the exact whine Clint got when he spilled his coffee first thing in the morning.

Clint glared at him. “No way. I'm Agent Awesome or Hawkeye the Hugtastic or-”

“Agent 'Aw no',” said Bucky firmly, with a glare. “If I'm gonna cop to this Sergeant Snuggles thing, you're not getting a choice on this.”

“Aw,” whined Clint, not helping his case at all.

Steve cleared his throat. “If you're okay, Tony, we really should be at debrief. We're already late.”

Tony made a face and glanced down at his robe. “Let me-”

“Don't worry, you're excused,” said Steve. He stepped in close and stroked a hand down over Tony's shoulder and along his arm. “We'll be back in a bit, if you want a movie night.”

At this point, _movie night_ was pretty much just a synonym for _cuddlefest_. Tony nodded, “Yeah, sounds good.”

Steve squeezed his arm and gave him another smile. Tony had to really hold himself back from reading more into his look than was there and just kissing the face off the guy.

“See you in a bit,” he said.

“Wish us luck in debrief hell,” added Clint, as they headed out.

Tony head Steve sigh. “Debriefing is a vital and necessa-” he started to say as the door shut behind them. Yeah, Tony really didn't mind skipping that lecture.

He looked down at the toy on his hands and then gave it an experimental cuddle. Huh, it really did make him feel better. Who knew?

****

Several hours later, Tony woke up. He was resting against a firm chest he recognised as Steve's without needing to open his eyes and yeah, okay, maybe that wasn't quite bro-knowledge, but fuck it. There was a hand on his shoulder that was gently rubbing a thumb backwards and forwards in a gentle caress that was also not very bro-like. He could hear the hoarse, nearly-snoring breathing that meant Clint was asleep somewhere very nearby and something warm and heavy was draped over one of his feet. Probably an arm, possibly Bucky's.

That was all cool. He kept his eyes shut and thought about drifting back to sleep and keeping Steve trapped here as his pillow until morning. Yeah, that was the best plan. Going back to sleep with all his guys around him, safe and happy and relaxed. He knew Steve well enough to know he wouldn't move if he thought it would wake Tony, which meant he'd wake up with at least one of them still there in the morning, rather than on his own in his increasingly lonely bed.

He was just drifting back into sleep when a low voice from the other end of the couch said, "So, when you going to make a move?"

For a moment, he thought it was aimed at him, but then the thumb stopped moving and he realised Bucky was talking to Steve. Okay, well, that was a question he kinda wanted to hear the answer to as well.

Steve was quiet for a long few moments, then the chest under Tony's ear vibrated with his voice. "When are you?"

Touché.

Bucky snorted. "Maybe I'm trying to narrow down who I should be making a move on."

And, okay, no, that wasn't right. "Why restrict yourself?" Tony mumbled and, dammit, he was meant to be pretending to be asleep. Curse his tired mind and his inability to keep his mouth shut.

There was a quiet pause during which Tony determinedly kept his eyes shut, and then Steve's thumb started stroking again. "He makes a good point."

"Yeah, for once," said Bucky. "Okay then, I guess- Clint. Hey, Hawkeye. You should probably be awake for this."

"Is there coffee?" came an unhappy mumble from somewhere near Tony's feet.

Tony gave up on pretending to be asleep, mainly because he'd been shit at it anyway, and opened his eyes. Clint was frowning up at Bucky with a half-awake look that Tony empathised with.

"Only Squishy McSoft-Bean," said Bucky. "But, uh, we might have something better."

Clint's face creased in confusion. "Better than coffee? How?"

"You should go with it," Tony advised. "They may have a point."

"Damn straight we do," said Steve, and then leaned down and kissed Tony. Oh, that was nice. Tony reached out a hand to hold on to the back of his head and kissed him back, lazily tangling tongues as he propped himself up to get a better angle.

"Oh," he heard Clint say. "Oh, right. That. Yeah, I guess you'd think that was better than coffee."

"What about this?" said Bucky. "Is this better?"

Tony pulled away from Steve then, because he wanted to see this.

Bucky cupped a hand around the back of Clint's head and leaned down to meet his lips. Clint made a happy murmur and pulled himself up to kiss him back and, wow, that was seriously hot. Tony let himself enjoy the aesthetics for a while, then turned back to Steve to see him also staring at them. Tony struggled upright and kissed him again, putting an arm around his neck and just holding on.

“Awesome,” he heard Clint say behind him which, yes.

There was movement of the limbs surrounding Tony's legs and then a hand was on his neck, pulling him back. Clint hesitated a few inches from Tony's mouth. “This okay?”

“Oh yeah,” said Tony and pulled him in so that he could kiss him. Steve's arm went around his waist, pushing up under his shirt and trailing fingers over his skin and he shivered.

“Oh man, yeah,” he said against Clint's mouth. “Yeah, this definitely has to happen.”

“Not here, though,” said Bucky. “There's no way this sofa is big enough.”

Tony looked over at him as Clint leaned over his shoulder to kiss Steve, and raised an eyebrow. “I've got the biggest bed.”

Bucky grinned. “Shiny and over-sized?”

“It won't be once all four of us are in it,” said Tony as Clint shifted to get closer to Steve, raising up on his knees and, hey, that meant Tony could run his hands down his back to his ass. Man, that was a nice ass. “Well, I mean, arc reactor so it'll be shiny, but-”

Bucky didn't bother letting him finish his rambling, which was probably for the best. Instead, he shifted so that he could lean in next to Clint and kiss Tony, running a hand up into his hair. “It's a plan,” he said.

It took several more minutes before they could all stop kissing each other long enough to get up, and then another minute or two to work out how to stand up when they were all so entwined. Tony made it up only with Clint's help, then settled against his chest to give him another long kiss, running his hands over his arms and really, really enjoying the shift of muscle. Holy shit, why hadn't he fucked an archer before? Those were some seriously nice biceps.

Bucky and Steve made it to their feet and then eyed each other for a moment, and Tony realised they hadn't kissed yet.

“Surely you guys have done this before?” he said. “Old hat, right?”

Steve cleared his throat. “We actually haven't.”

“Seriously?” said Clint. “Well, that's gotta be ninety years of wasted time.”

“Basically, yeah,” said Bucky, and gave Steve a challenging look. “You up for it then, punk?”

Steve rolled his eyes, then stepped in and grabbed him and, oh god, that was seriously hot. Tony wasn't sure how he was going to cope with this whole thing without just spontaneously combusting. It started out almost tentative, but quickly became almost like a fight, both of them trying to devour each other.

“Fuck,” breathed Clint out in Tony's ear.

“Yeah,” said Tony, and then turned back to kissing him, stepping in closer to press his erection against his thigh.

“Bed,” said Steve, behind them. “Bed, right now.” A hand pulled on Tony's shoulder and he heard himself make a vaguely embarrassing sound as he and Clint were separated, and then Steve had an arm around his waist and was walking him in the direction of Tony's bedroom, hands pulling impatiently on his t-shirt. “We need to be naked.”

“It's those kinds of epic plans that are the reason you're the team leader,” said Tony, halting him halfway down the hall to press him up against the wall and kiss him. Steve melted against him, letting Tony hold him right there and do whatever he wanted. Holy shit, Tony had been a complete idiot to not do this months ago.

“And it's your tendency to get distracted that's the reason you're not,” said Clint, and then there were hands pulling his t-shirt up his body, making him pull away from Steve so it could go over his head.

Steve made a very pleased sound and rubbed his hands up and down Tony's bare back as he kissed him again. There was a sigh from Bucky, right by Tony's ear.

“Come on, Steve, concentrate,” said Bucky, pulling Tony away so that he was pressed against a different super-soldier and Clint was able to move in and get Steve's shirt off too. Tony realised they'd both already get their shirts off and Bucky had ditched Sergeant Snuggles somewhere.

He glanced at Bucky's metal arm and Bucky twitched. “Figured it would get in the way, but I can get it if you want,” he said, and Tony could see a shadow in his eyes as he said it.

“Nah, it's good,” said Tony, running a hand over it. “It's not like it's cold right now, and I figure we're not going to be sleeping on it.”

“Not until later,” said Clint, bending his head to suck at Steve's neck. Steve let out a quiet moan and tipped his head back.

“And it's not like you're the only one with a weird metal body part,” added Tony, knocking his knuckles against the arc reactor.

Bucky ran a hand down Tony's chest, over the reactor to his stomach and then down further, to rest over the prominent bulge of his cock. “I guess I should just be hoping there's nothing prosthetic down here.”

“Nope,” said Tony, unable to stop himself from pushing into Bucky's grip. Fuck, he was already so hard. “Just my all-natural shiny and oversized self.”

“You know,” said Clint, letting go of Steve and stepping back in the direction of the bedrooms, “I'd probably save the boasting about the size of my dick until after I'd checked out the goods on the two super-soldiers I was about to have sex with.”

“That's cuz you lack confidence,” said Tony, heading after him so that he could get his hands on those fucking delicious shoulder muscles now they weren't covered up by his shirt. “It's okay, we won't judge.”

He ran his hands down Clint's back and then around his waist, pulling him back so that he could subtly press his erection against Clint's ass. Well, okay, maybe not that subtly, but Clint didn't seem to mind, if the way he pressed back and then turned to kiss him was anything to go by.

“Damn straight you won't,” he said. “Perfect aim, remember? You ain't gonna know what hit you, Stark.”

Tony grinned back. “Looking forward to it,” he said. There was nothing about this situation that wasn't going to be fucking awesome, and afterwards, well, they already had a lot of experience with cuddling. Post-coital was going to be a cinch.


End file.
